6,8 AND 10, WATER LANE

6, 8, and 10 Water Lane is a terrace of cottages that were formerly part of the stabling and outbuildings of Hertford Castle. Built in the late 18th century, the cottages have been altered over time. They are constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with old tiled roofs that are hipped at the ends, featuring a corbel band and a dentil header cornice. The red and yellow brick chimneystacks have a projecting band and are located on the ridge.

The principal elevation, which faces the Hertford Relief Road (Gascoyne Way), has an irregular six-bay facade with single bay projections on the left and right. The cottages are two storeys tall. On the first floor, there is one flush-set nine-pane sash window in the projecting left bay and six irregularly spaced sash windows in the centre. The ground floor features broad rubbed brick arches in the projecting end bays, which have been infilled. These arches once accommodated paired doors on No. 4 and were likely infilled when the block was converted from stabling, probably around the time it was acquired by Hertford Borough Council from the Gascoyne Cecil (Salisbury) Estate in 1952. The ground floor now has five sash windows, one under a rebuilt segmental arch, two under rebuilt soldier arches, and two under slightly cambered rubbed flat arches. There are also three half-glazed doors beneath 20th-century Welsh slated lean-to hoods supported by gallows brackets.

The rear elevation has two small wood casements and three twelve-pane sashes on the first floor, along with four 20th-century inserted sixteen-pane sashes on the ground floor.

The historical note indicates that the stables and adjoining cottages were built by the Marquess of Downshire as part of his reconstruction of the Gate House. In 1971, the cottages, along with others on Water Lane, were conveyed to the Hertfordshire Building Preservation Trust and refurbished by architect John Snellgrove Associates.